Page 16 of A Promise of Peridot
It had only made sense then to promise myself to Sera when she came of age and ensure a sacred and fruitful partnership betweenkingdoms over the many years to come. Isolde was a wise queen. She knew if I succeeded in destroying my father, her daughter would one day rule the Fae Realm as well. And if I failed... well, I’d be dead and she could marry whomever she pleased. A decent deal.
Or it would have been, had I gone through with it—but I had taken one look at young Sera, only thirteen at the time, and realized Isolde and I had vastly different ideas of what coming “of age” entailed. Call it revulsion, ethics, or impulsivity, but I reneged on the marriage and fled the city before the ceremony could take place.
Looking at Isolde now, all I could see was her tear-streaked face that windy winter evening by the sea as she held her inconsolable daughter and roared that I was never to step foot in their kingdom again.
And now, six years later, I had done exactly that.
“You’re right,” I managed. “Arwen is the promised Fae. And that information needs never to leave this room. Who else knows what she is?”
“Just the people in this room and our highest advisor, Master Aled,” Broderick said. “He heard of the healer that had taken up residence in Shadowhold months ago. Some spies informed us of her similarities to the woman who showed an impressive display of power in Siren’s Bay. We put the pieces together.”
I rubbed at my temples.
“Citrine is safe for her,” Broderick reassured me. “We are not fools, Kane. We understand what is at stake here. But outside of harboring the girl, we cannot help you. We have fought hard to keep this kingdom safe. To avoid the pointless wars of mortal men.”
“You know this isn’t just mortal men.” I stepped forward withintent, and the guard behind Isolde lifted his blade, a shimmer of bright blue light dancing across the room.
Mermagic.
Stronger than steel, that cerulean glow could lop my head clean off.
I unclenched my fists.
“Even still, we cannot help you,” Broderick said, his guard stepping back like a dog called off a scent.
Despite his baritone voice, Broderick’s words barely resonated in the glossy, empty room. Such a calm man. I wondered if he ever raged.
I turned to Isolde. I’d have to get through to her somehow.
“I couldn’t do it to Sera,” I admitted. And then, before she cut me off, “I know, I know. You’re her mother, you know what’s right for her, but the thought of wedding her. Putting an heir into her... She was just achild.”
“This is your way of convincing us to help you? Insulting how we raised our daughter? How we chose to wed her?”
All right. New approach.
I had not even shared this half-assed, last-ditch plan with Griffin. His sigh of frustration would have knocked me over. “Isolde, if we defeat my father and win the war, someone will need to sit on the throne of Lumera. I am the rightful king, but will abdicate to stay in Onyx. It is my home now.”
Isolde said nothing, but folded her hands primly in her lap. I wasn’t sure if the gesture was a good sign or a bad one.
“Lumerians will only recognize a Fae monarch, but a mortal spouse would greatly help to promote unity between the species. Especially after my father’s quest for a solely full-blooded Fae race. Help us, and I swear to you, I will crown a Fae worthy of Sera.”
After a long moment, in which all I could hear was my pulse slamming in my own ears, she angled her head toward her husband and spoke, more to him than to me.
“We do not want to see Lazarus take Evendell, to ruin it as he has Lumera.”
My heart flew up against my ribs—
“But—”
And fell like a dove shot out of the sky.
“We cannot lend you our mermagic nor our armies. I will not let my people go like willing sacrifices against Fae soldiers. In exchange for your promise to wed Sera to the next Fae king, we can offer you refuge for the men and women who arrived today. However, you must swear not to spillone ounceof blood on Citrine sand. Do not forget how well we know you, King Ravenwood. No lighte, no shifting, no endangering our people.”
“Understood.”
“One step out of line,” Isolde hissed, “and you and every single passenger from that ship will be thrown into our sea.”
?Though I found the palace at Azurine to be overdone and bejeweled into frivolity, the castle did have one thing I was exceedingly fond of, and that was their large marble showers.
